Top JPMorgan exec joins London Whale winning firm

In a sign of the seismic shifts on Wall Street, a 34-year veteran of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) jumped ship for BlueMountain Capital, one of the hedge funds that won big by betting against JPMorgan on its London Whale trades.

Jes Staley, who most recently served as the CEO of JPMorgan's investment division, said he's joining the hedge fund at a time of "sea changes in the financial services industry."

BlueMountain oversees $12 billion and invests largely in credit derivatives, the trades that ensnared JPMorgan's chief investment office, and resulted in at least a $5.8 billion loss for the bank. BlueMountain made more than $100 million by betting against JPMorgan and ultimately helped the bank exit some of those trades.

In the wake of new financial regulations, banks have been closing down so-called proprietary trading desks that make bets using the bank's own capital. With JPMorgan's London Whale trades as a glaring exception, banks have scaled back their bets on credit derivatives.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called BlueMountain "an important client" and said he looks forward to working Staley in his new role, according to an email sent to senior executives obtained by CNNMoney. JPMorgan declined to comment.

Maureen Farrell is a staff writer at CNNMoney and covers Wall Street, banking, mergers and the stock and bond markets. Prior to joining CNNMoney, she covered venture capital and entrepreneurs for Forbes, and mergers and bankruptcy for Mergermarket and Debtwire, both divisions of the Financial Times.